Idiosyncratic
by zratira
Summary: After one season of life on Waffle Island, Angela had learned a few things: Harvest Sprites were irritating, the mayor's son was a pissant and Hamilton was, by far, the biggest stud she'd ever met. She always knew her perception of the world was skewed.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: **Not** Gill/ Angela. Also, many thanks to my beta reader, Bizz.

* * *

Farmers are tenacious. Whether it was farmers in general, or just Angela, he couldn't really say.

Angela should have left when she found the island on the pamphlet bared few resemblances to the destitute island she found herself on. She should have sailed back after her second week, when she found her low-quality crops yielded precious little money and it would be a struggle to sustain herself and poor soil would ensure there was no hope in breaking the cycle. He couldn't fathom why she was still here; anyone with any semblance of sanity would have left under those conditions.

Angela defied reason.

Somehow, she had managed to scrounge up enough of her meagre funds and upgrade her shack. In another equally unlikely course of events, she had also managed to collect half of the fabled Harvest Sprite Quilt, an item that had supposedly been in his family for generations.

Gill hated her perseverance. How she, of all people, was so determined to revive the island. This outsider was the only one who supposedly had contact with the Harvest Goddess, could see the Harvest Sprites, and believed she could actually help the island.

Not that it mattered. He had been trying for many long years to revive the island, since the Mother Tree first began to wither to it's eventual death; presumably from neglect or simply the natural order all living organisms fall under. It made no difference who undertook the task, it was a fruitless effort.

Gill tapped his foot impatiently, making a soft click upon contact against the cobblestones in the square.

"The other half of the Harvest Sprite Quilt? ...I don't have it, if that's what you're thinking."

It was hard to study her face. The pale lights in Waffle Town Square did almost nil to illuminate anything at this time of night.

"Well, do you have any idea where it is then?" Angela sounded just a little bit irritated. Presumably because she'd have to continue searching elsewhere instead of just picking it up then and there. Slacker.

"...Why are you interested in the Harvest Sprite Quilt?" Judging by her previous actions she had some notion of reviving the island; that much was obvious. However, the Harvest Sprite Quilt was of the utmost importance and he had to be sure, without a doubt, that she was using it for the right reasons.

"I want to sell it." came her casual reply.

His jaw dropped, leaving his mouth agape. She had to be joking. Couldn't she see how serious this matter was?

"Relax. I'm kidding. The look on your face was priceless though!" She even had the audacity to giggle.

"That's a pretty bold thing to say. This isn't a joke, Angela." Gill deadpanned. The entire endeavour was quickly becoming a waste of time.

Angela flinched and wrung her hands together before finally clasping them at her back.

"I'm sorry. I'd really like to revive the island! I'm serious!" Angela said, somewhat sincerely.

He doubted that, but after a few seconds of deliberating he came to the conclusion that the present situation the island was stuck in couldn't get much worse.

"I really hope you are serious, Angela. This island means a lot to me. I haven't seen the Harvest Sprites or the quilt since I was a kid. I suspect the Harvest Sprites may have used the last of their power to hide the quilt around the time when the Mother Tree began to wither. Dale might know more about the Mother Tree and the quilt."

"Oh, so I need to go see Dale now? What a pain."

Gill sighed. Did the Harvest Goddess really send visions to that...thing? He was beginning to wonder.

* * *

Gill awoke to the sound of the door slamming that morning.

He had always been a light sleeper. Having grown up an only child and being raised by a single parent for the majority of his life, he was unaccustomed to foreign sounds echoing through his residence's relatively large hallway and was often roused into wakefulness by his father's morning antics.

It was Sunday; his only day off during a regular work week and no doubt Hamilton was keeping with his regular tradition of breakfast preparation for the both of them, or some such nonsense.

It took Gill a few moments to pick out the problem with that logic from his sleep muddled mind; which, needless to say, was a challenge in and of itself.

The sound was not the clatter of pots and pans. It was different and therefore demanded exploration.

With some struggle, Gill managed to edge himself from the comfort of his covers and placed his feet on the cold floor. His mind was slowly becoming more alert, but his body still felt like a weight.

Within a few seconds he had mentally wrestled his legs into moving and made his way down the small hallway that separated his room from his father's and rather abruptly came to a halt at the top of their stairway.

"...so ships should be able to sail to and from the island." a voice from downstairs sounded, unmistakeably feminine.

Gill couldn't pick out just who it belonged to; it sounded slightly distorted from his current perch at the top of the stairs. Just who would visit this early with the sole intent of conversing with his father? Or, rather, who in their right mind?

"Fabulous! Simply fabulous! I knew you could do it! But why come here so early to tell me?"

"Oh, um, I just thought you'd like to know Mr. Hamilton and, um, I really enjoy coming to see you!" the woman sounded enthusiastic, for some reason.

The sobering realization hit him hard. That voice could only belong to Angela.

What business could she possibly have here? At this hour?

"Oh, why, I do enjoy it when you visit too, my dear!"

"O-Oh, I'm glad to hear that, Mr. Hamilton! I'll, um, be leaving now though. I need to go finish watering my crops." Angela replied, nervously.

"Of course! Of course! Don't let me keep you now! You're welcome back any time."

The door slammed shut again and Gill tentatively walked back towards his room.

"Just what is that idiot planning?"


	2. Chapter 2

After nearly one season of life on Waffle Island, Angela had only learned one thing: Harvest Sprites were damn annoying.

After all that hard work, he dropped his badge in the river after frolicking on the bridge. At least, that's what she gathered in between the sobbing. Why were all the mythical creatures on this island so sensitive anyway?

"Uh, don't worry. I'll find it for you."

Angela hoped he had a pot of gold though; it didn't even need to be a large one. At this point, she'd settle for just enough gold to add carpet to her shack and maybe just enough extra to buy a few cocktails at the bar. It wasn't like she was demanding much here. Times were tough, after all.

"Really? Well, that river leads back into the ocean, so it should have ended up somewhere around the Gull Islands!" Ben stated in his chipper little voice and promptly began waving frantically and disappearing before Angela even had the chance to venture another word. Harvest Sprites really did have an attention span comparable to a butterfly.

Angela sighed and turned on her heel, putting her dangerously close to the pond beside her. The stray cat nearby eyed her suspiciously; naturally, she decided to stare back at it. Squaring off against the district's cats was always an enjoyable form of entertainment.

What was she supposed to be doing again? Oh, right, finding Ben's badge somewhere on the Gull Islands. It wasn't like she had anything better to do anyway; her crops were watered, her cow was fed and she had already visited the mayor once today and was quickly running out of believable reasons to do so again. Besides, the cat was getting bored of their game faster than she was; such occurrences were rarely a good indicator of her mental condition.

It was almost noon, if she hurried she could still make it to the Gull Islands and hopefully find Ben's badge before dark. Maple Lake District, with its distinct lack of a populace, was depressing anyway.

Angela bid farewell to the cat, jammed her watering can in her fraying rucksack and made her way towards Waffle Square.

* * *

After three hours of searching, Angela finally came to the rather obvious conclusion that the badge wasn't anywhere to be found; on the current island she had access to anyway. She had however procured another rainbow recipe after spilling the contents of her watering can on another unhappy sprite. Somehow, through the incredible power of the process of elimination, the farmer also managed to figure out that Ben's badge must be on the other island and she had to make another rainbow to get there.

On the bright side, at least she had managed to forage for some herbs and fruit she would have otherwise missed on Waffle Island. Things were looking up; she might even be able to afford a cheap TV by the end of the week. The sad part was that she wasn't even joking this time.

Before her master plan of buying a cheap TV could even make it's way into fruition, she had to get off this island. Angela took a deep breath and made her way toward the rainbow; even though she had crossed it many times before, the shock of taking a few tentative steps _through_ Ben's rainbow fazed her more than she was willing to admit.

Luckily, that wasn't the case this time and Angela managed to scramble over the rainbow with relative ease, praying no one would see her mad dash from the square at the other end of the rainbow. They never did, but she still worried nonetheless.

Within minutes, she was setting her feet on more reliable ground.

A quick glance towards the clock tower told her it was already past five o'clock; the town hall would be locked up tight by now. Angela felt her heart lurch at the thought.

"It's not like he's ever there anyway..." she mumbled to herself and forced herself to walk towards the stairs in the far corner of the square.

"Looking for someone, idiot?"

It wasn't fair. She hadn't even taken two steps yet.

"Go away, Gill. I'm not interested in talking to you right now."

Or ever, but it wouldn't do her very much good to alienate him. He had his uses, after all. His lack of jubilance was rather irksome, though.

He chose to ignore her snide comment. "...I've noticed more rainbows are returning to the island." Gill's voice lacked any particular emotion, not that it was unusual for him.

Actually, she had only made one rainbow, but Angela felt that was beside the point. What was he getting at? After the business with the quilt it should have been obvious she was the one behind making the island's sole rainbow. So why wouldn't he come out and say it?

"Really? I hadn't noticed. Now if you'll excuse me..." Angela attempted to squeeze past his stationary position squarely in front of the stairs.

... And was promptly blocked by the blonde at the edge of her vision. Damn it. Shouldn't he be cooped up in the town hall right now anyway?

"Angela. Why are you doing this?" Gill actually turned to face her this time, with a rather intense look spreading across his features (or maybe it was just that squinting thing he was prone to doing, she could never really tell). In some other life, if Angela was some other girl, she may have found it rather enticing.

It was a pity that his somewhat decent looks were offset by his general lack of humility and absence of human emotions; though, she had always possessed a certain adoration and long-held bias for men who were actually beautiful on the inside. Angela always did seem to have non-conventional preferences.

"Hmm? Doing what exactly, Gill?" she struggled to hide the smirk that was creeping across her face.

"Stop acting like an idiot." he snapped, more irate.

"Well, even if I had any inclination before, I hardly feel obligated to answer any of your questions now. So, mind moving? I have places to be."

"Yes, I do mind..."

Screw it, enough mind games. Mayor's son or not, Angela wanted to get away from him and get out of the square now.

So, ignoring the more sane answers to her predicament, she decided there was only one possible way out of this asinine situation.

Angela body checked him. Not hard really, but with enough force to clear an escape down the stairs and away from the persistent jerk. She could even hear the tail-end of what was more than likely a curse.

Game, set and match.

* * *

The bar was just finished opening by the time Angela meandered her way in. It must have been just past six as Selena hadn't even begun to grind at the top of the stairs yet. In the city, such antics were usually the product of one too many alcoholic beverages; here it was labelled a 'cultural' performance.

Waffle Town really was backwards.

Somewhere in the far corner of her mind, Angela wondered if it would be more profitable to open a strip club rather than run a farm. Even if it wasn't, it would almost be worth it to see the look on Gill's face when she applied for business license. Alas, despite it's many flaws, she wouldn't want to put the quaint little Inn out of business.

"You ordering or working today Angela?" Kathy said, finally catching sight of Angela and jolting her out of her dreams of entrepreneurship.

"Oh, uh, do you need any work done tonight?" Angela replied, rather dimly.

"We always need work done! Come on back here!" Kathy trotted away from the door and towards the backroom of the bar forcing Angela to reluctantly follow at her heels.

"See all these?" Kathy made a gesture to a rather massive stack of dishes littering the sink and counter top. "We need 'em washed for tomorrow, as well as any that turn up tonight."

Angela detested dishes and dishwashing. However, at the rate her crops were growing, if she wanted to continue eating and purchase even the barest necessities of life, she had better get to work.

Luckily, everything passed without incident. Angela only broke one dish, Gill didn't come storming in after the blow to his pride and she managed to sneak a few glances in a certain someone's direction. However, admitting just who it was would be a rather large blow to _her_ pride.

All in all, it was a pretty decent night. Her hands were rather dry, but she was now 200G richer. If only farming was as lucrative as dishwashing. After buying a barn and a cow, Angela was beginning to wonder if she'd ever break even.

Oh well. Angela thanked her employers and made her way out the Inn doors and into the cool evening. Maybe if she did manage to gather all the rainbow recipes things would begin to look up?

The thought was oddly optimistic and foreign to Angela. She had gathered the ingredients for the first two, sure, but the recipes were becoming increasingly difficult to fill. The farmer had to admit, she'd more than likely sell any of the rarer items on the recipe list should she ever come across them.

Self-preservation was almost always first on Angela's priority list. No beautiful woman with wings could convince her otherwise or wealthy son of a certain mayor for that matter.

Concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other, Angela briskly began to make her way home.

Things would look up, they always seemed to and even if they didn't, a home back in the city was just one short boat ride away.


	3. Chapter 3

Usually, Gill treated work as a sort of reprieve. A calm, methodical, respite of paper shuffling, number-crunching and an occasional bout of politics.

There were exceptions, of course. The most prominent being festivals.

Gill hated festivals. From a planning prospective, they were a nightmare. Festivals demanded time to prepare and money; neither of which Gill liked to part with. His time could better be spent elsewhere and the pecuniary aspect made his head hurt.

Waffle Town was an economic nightmare. Trade was limited to what could be shipped by boat to the nearest towns and cities. As most of Waffle Towns exports were agricultural, cheaper surplus goods from other towns were a constant issue.

Balancing the books was always troublesome and left Gill exhausted.

The Ocean Festival was by far the worst. The vendor stalls on the beach required time to set up, as did the beach decorations and the fireworks not only required certified operators, but they also needed to meet safety standards on top of the cost of actually purchasing the pyrotechnics.

In fact, there was only one week left until the Ocean Festival deadline and unsurprisingly, his father had not even begun the preparations. Gill should have expected this, it was almost a yearly ritual. His father would insist that he was indeed making preparations for the festival and not to worry, when he had actually done little or nothing. Luckily, such antics were unique to the Ocean Festival, for some odd reason.

It all amounted to a lot of paper work. Paper work that had managed to find its way to his desk around noon and he had been working frantically to complete for the past two hours.

Once, in another life, he used to love the fireworks. Back when he didn't know how much work they were and could simply enjoy the bright colours and patterns they traced in the sky. He used to watch them with his father and his late mother too when he was little more than a toddler.

Such events were significantly less enjoyable without a family to watch them with. For the past few years Hamilton had implied that he should find a nice girl to watch them with, and on top of all this work, it was frankly the last thing on his mind.

Gill's hand was cramping up from the frenzied pace of his writing. Pausing briefly to stretch and massage his wrist, he realized that on top of everything his side still ached.

Damn it, Angela.

"We want no condescending saviors! To rule us from their judgment hall! We workers ask not for their favors!" an obnoxious voice reverbated throughout the town hall.

"The Internationale? Really, Angela." Gill heard Elli lecture from across the room.

"I thought it was fitting." Angela said with a smirk, causing Elli to sigh in exasperation.

Gill looked up from his papers and ran a hand through his hair in frustration, catching Angela as she peered around the corner. What was it this time? He was busy and didn't want to be disturbed.

"Angela, go-"

"He's not heeeere." She looked disappointed and retreated back around the corner and out the large town hall doors before Gill could even finish voicing a concern.

"My, that was certainly something. Do you have any idea what that was about?" Elli asked, her face contorted into a look of what appeared to be concentration.

"None, Elli. Now, if you'll excuse me..."

* * *

By five o'clock, Gill had actually succeeded in finishing the majority of the Ocean Festival preparations; an amazing feat considering the circumstances. His sanity could have taken a lighter blow, but now that was just being nitpicky.

Needless to say, for the first time in months, he actually managed to saunter out of the town hall at closing time instead of staying an extra few hours. The sun was even out and given the time of year, Gill would probably even have three or more hours of sunlight to enjoy. Not that he usually particularly enjoyed it being prone to heat exhaustion; tonight was an odd exception.

Tonight, books in hand, he was content to make his way home early and begin researching a certain piece of Waffle Town history. Perhaps the archaic words and references would actually make sense this time. Glancing toward the rainbow mere meters away, he began to trudge across the cobblestones, making a click with every foot fall.

The mayor's son only managed to make a few calculated steps before something small and yellow caught the corner of his eye.

"Impossible." Gill muttered, jerking his head to the side and finding nothing in particular.

Walking briskly up the solitary tree, he noted with some surprise the tiny indents in the dirt around an obnoxious yellow flower growing in the shadow of the tree. Shifting his head to survey the area, he couldn't see any further indications that anything was amiss. With a groan, Gill retreated back to the square's stairs.

He had only gotten about half way there when he didn't see something, but rather felt something. This feeling was somewhat irritating, like hearing a room buzz with white noise, however it pulled on an entirely different level of his subconscious.

The entire situation was illogical.

Gill soon found himself wandering not in the direction of home, but in the direction of Mt. Gelato; and within the hour, he managed to find himself in a frighteningly familiar place.

In stark comparison to its former glory, all that remained of the Mother Tree was rotting wood. The gigantic base was hollow and surrounding branches were in the later stages of decomposition. This was the product of human waste, arrogance and progress.

It was disgustingly fascinating.

It was also entirely preventable.

Gill always strived to force Waffle Town from it's archaic ways and force modernization; most recently, it was the cutting of the root blocking Ganache Mine District from the Caramel River area. It made travel easier and the transport of supplies to Waffle Town faster. Surely the Harvest Goddess understood the implications for the island?

The movement of shrubbery forcibly pulled Gill from his thoughts. Another animal perhaps?

Actually, given the odd mumbling and what he presumed to be a trip coming from the distance, an animal was highly unlikely.

It just had to be Angela again. He did seem to have a penchant for finding her lately. Of course, given the mumbling, it could also have been his father, but that would mean the stout little man had actually walked beyond Maple Lake District and that was a feat that was clearly impossible.

"...Oh, so you've started coming here." The odd mumbly creature, presumably Angela, managed to catch sight of him a fair distance away.

Gill's side decided this was a perfect opportunity to protest and promptly did so; causing Gill to instinctively move his hand over it.

"Haven't you got somewhere to be?"

"Not today, actually. So I'll do my best not to rough you up again. It must have been terribly embarrassing."

What was the farmer's malfunction? A few days ago, she didn't even want to speak to him and now she going out of her way to mock him? It was one of the few things Gill couldn't comprehend.

When Angela finally made her way closer (but still a suitably safe distance away from him), Gill noticed she wasn't actually looking at him, but rather at something unnervingly close to him.

"...Hey, can you see them?" Angela traced an odd pattern around him, as if she was following something.

She couldn't possibly mean they were still around. It had to be something else.

"See what?" Gill asked, he had to be completely certain of what exactly she was implying.

Angela laughed and dropped her hand to her side. "Idiot. The Harvest Sprite." she said, rather pleased with herself.

"...I used to see them when I was a kid. They begged me to help the Mother Tree, but I was just too young and eventually they disappeared." The damage was already done, Gill figured there wasn't any point in hiding it from her.

Angela made a non-committal noise, but was otherwise non-responsive.

As Gill had learned previously, there was little use in confronting her and there was a laudable amount of damage she could inflict on him here. Collecting himself as gracefully as possible, Gill turned and left Angela and the rotted remains of what was once Mother Tree.

* * *

Gill did not arrive home until well past ten. Apparently, it took much longer for him to find his way out of the mess than it did for him to waltz his way into it.

"How absurd." Gill muttered as he fumbled to open the door quietly and balance his books at the same time.

Finally, after a fair amount of struggle, Gill accomplished opening the door. Carefully, so as not to wake his father, he closed the door and attempted to turn on a light. Unfortunately, he forgot about his books and ungracefully caused them to dump all over the floor; which, quite obviously, was counterproductive.

"Gill? Are you finally home, my boy?" Gill could hear the shuddering of the steps as Mayor Hamilton toddled down them in his nightwear.

"...I should think that would be obvious by now, father." Gill snapped and attempted to rescue his precious books from their resting place on the floor.

"My! Do you know how late it is? When I came looking for you earlier, Elli said you left ages ago! Now, now, no need to explain it to me! You must have been out and with a nice young lady I presume! Am I right? Yes, yes, of course! It's written all over your face!" Hamilton looked delighted, the stout man seemed to take pleasure in events such as this where he expected Gill to share some deep secret with him.

"That's hardly the case." Gill scowled. He was tired and in no mood to deal with Hamilton's assumptions.

"Oh, now, now! It's nothing to be embarrassed about, I am your father after all! We can discuss these things now, can't we? And it's simply fabulous that you finally opened up enough to--"

"Good night, father."


	4. Chapter 4

Even the simplest chores were torturous in the summer heat. Milking and brushing Bess the cow was impossible to do outdoors; and watering her crops was just as tedious. Angela hated the heat.

Why she thought it was a good idea to chop wood for another house upgrade was beyond her. She couldn't even afford the labour right now anyway.

Maybe she could sweet talk Luke into lowering the price? It was an interesting prospect; he was nice really, but about as sharp as a door handle, or a Harvest Sprite. Needless to say, both entities meant well; they were just tragically lacking certain cognitive functions.

On the bright side, at least her crops were getting plenty of sunlight; as was Angela as a matter of fact. Where had she put that water bottle anyway? She was starting to get a little dizzy.

Angela couldn't help but take a few more swings at the tree though; it hadn't toppled over yet. Slowly, her vision began to blur and her next step almost caused her to stagger backwards.

She knew her touch of obsessive compulsive disorder would come back with a vengeance someday.

"Hey, Angela! Hey!"

At this point in time, Angela could only make out a blue blob as she tried desperately to stay upright.

"Nnngh." was about all she could manage for a response.

"Wow, you really don't look very good! Is something wrong?"

It must have been Luke; no one else even came close to being that oblivious. Angela struggled to remain upright and attempted to gain enough control to speak.

"N-No."

"Whoa. Do I need to, like, take you to the clinic or something?" If the farmer could have discerned facial features, she probably would have found a worried expression plastered on his face.

Unfortunately, her unstable body was already on the fast track to kissing the dirt.

Angela really hated summer.

* * *

The first thing Angela noticed when she woke up was Doctor Jin. Actually, to be perfectly honest, the first thing she noticed was a nicely shaped rear from her vantage point in the hospital bed; which she later found out belonged to said doctor.

Suffice to say, things were a little awkward until he turned back around.

"You regained consciousness? Try not to overdo it next time." he didn't sound terribly concerned.

"Angela! Geez, you had me worried for a minute there!" Luke's voice, on the other hand, made up for Dr. Jin's carelessness three fold.

It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where she was or why. What perturbed Angela more was how or who exactly brought her here.

"H-How did I get here?" Angela croaked; her throat unexpectedly dry.

"I brought you here! Don't you remember? ...Oh, right, you were unconscious! I couldn't just leave you there so I lugged you back here! Oh, don't worry, it wasn't a problem or anything, you're pretty skinny."

Eloquence was lost on Luke, completely.

"You, uh, didn't have to. You hardly even know me." Angela didn't even notice how stupid the words must have been before they passed her lips.

"Man! What are you talking about? I told you I wouldn't just leave you there! Besides, we're like, buds now, right? Remember? You bought me blueberry cocktails at the Inn the other day!"

It took Angela a few seconds of contemplation before she even managed a vague recollection of the event. It had something to with her first good crops in the spring and wanting to spread the wealth like the good little socialist she was (deep down inside); or something like that. Things all blur together after four cocktails and counting. It was really no wonder she was broke.

Dr. Nice Ass coughed. "You're free to leave now. Be sure to stay hydrated and eat plenty if you're going to be working outdoors. Make sure to get plenty of rest today."

Angela nodded and tentatively threw her feet over the side of the bed and made a few cautious steps towards the stairs, an anxious Luke trailing behind her.

Why was everyone in this town so concerned about her well-being anyway?

By the time Angela actually made it out the clinic's doors, Luke had gone over two minutes without saying a word. So, naturally, she waited for him to say something; she was getting worried.

"So, want me to walk you home or something? I need to get back to work over there anyway. Bo is probably wondering where I am."

Obviously, a quiet Luke was a fleeting entity.

"...Yeah." Angela figured there wouldn't be any use in turning him down and, to be honest, she still felt rather light-headed.

She spent the next half hour listening to Luke chatter about anything he could think of; which, for him, had a surprisingly broad reach. He talked about the weather, something about Goddess spanking and some festival tomorrow (and the wardrobe malfunctions that followed said festival).

Regardless of the topics, his boisterous chatter made the walk home seem faster and she soon found herself in front of her tiny house on the hill.

"...So, think you'll go to the Ocean Festival tomorrow? We have a pool going. Owen says the Mayor will wear a nut hugger this year; my bets are on a Speedo. Kathy is going for the long shot that he won't wear _anything_."

Angela was sold, right then and there.

"And you say this happens every year?" Angela grinned.

"Well, most years. Sometimes it rains and there was that one year when there was that rock skipping accident before he got out there..." Luke's expression was oddly contemplative.

"Save me a spectator's seat then. Thanks for everything, Luke."

"Oh, yeah! No prob! You know it isn't a pretty sight though, right? Well, whatever, I'll see you tomorrow Angela!" Luke yelled as he sauntered down the path to Ganache Mine district.

Angela sighed and walked into her house; not even bothering to remove any of her clothing before she collapsed on the bed.

Tomorrow was going to kick ass.

* * *

Two hours and he still hadn't shown up; clothed or otherwise.

"Maybe he got sick or something?" Luke, complete with flaming trunks, chimed in from his designated seat in the sand.

Angela was very disappointed. She didn't mind blowing a day here, but so far the only things that had shown up on the beach were vendor stalls that unsurprisingly sold fish and fruit she could find for free on Toucan Island. It was also hot and she was sorely lacking a margarita.

"Nah, he'll get here. He shows up fashionably late to everything." Kathy plunked down and began to draw patterns in the sand with her finger.

Owen looked unimpressed. "I don't get what's so exciting about seeing the Mayor's junk. It happens every year."

Kathy's sand shapes appeared to morph into something phallic and Luke cringed. Angela contemplated joining her.

"You thought it was a great idea when we brought up the betting pool a few nights back." Kathy was too enamored in her drawing to even glace at him.

"Yeah, well, nobody takes home the cash if he doesn't show." Owen scratched his muscle-bound stomach, apparently bored.

Angela couldn't blame him. With the exception of the stalls, and a game of rock skipping that had not resulted in a trip to the clinic, nothing was happening. The boozing apparently didn't even begin until the hour in between stall closures and the fireworks show.

"Maybe we just got here too early?" Luke piped in.

It was plausible. The clock tower had just sounded noon and people were slowly trickling onto the beach.

"...Oh dear, I do hope he doesn't decide to bend over." Angela heard Elli mutter to Yolanda as they made their way behind her and over to the stalls.

Apparently this was a Waffle Town tradition just as deeply rooted and highly anticipated as the fireworks. Angela still couldn't fathom the small town mentality.

The farmer squinted as she attempted to swivel her head in the direction of the clock tower and caught a glimpse of something stout waddling down the cobblestone path to the beach. Since Yolanda was already tottering around near the stalls, that left one entity.

"...Isn't that him over there?" Angela remarked, causing Luke and Owen to turn and Kathy to look up from her detailed sand masterpiece.

As soon as he set foot on the beach, all eyes were on the mayor's...swim trunks. They were stretched, but shorts nonetheless. Gill, stationed at Hamilton's side, looked entirely too pleased with himself.

The beach resounded in a collective sigh and Hamilton, oddly oblivious, strode up to the pier to make some announcement nobody cared about.

"What do we do with the money?" Owen asked.

"Margaritas?" Angela figured that the day might as well not be a total loss.

"You didn't even bet." Kathy retorted, and went back to her work of art in the sand, adding some details that were far too revealing for Angela's eyes.

Luke merely sighed, apparently too distraught for words.

"...fireworks show! Enjoy the festivities everyone!" Hamilton hid a chuckle with his hand and proceeded to walk back from the pier.

Unfortunately, the flighty little mayor didn't get far before snagging his shorts on a conveniently placed loose nail after brushing up just a little too close to a wooden rail. Trying to spare himself the embarrassment, Hamilton backed up slightly and attempted a more forceful step hoping to free himself in the process. Obviously, he failed miserably.

Angela couldn't help but stifle a laugh, as much as she adored Waffle Town's little mayor. Luke had already hit full-blown hysterics.

Frustrated, Hamilton backed up once again and gave the garment a hard tug as he attempted to walk. Apparently said tug was just a bit too forceful and in a disastrous miscalculation of force combined with an already struggling pair of trunks, Hamilton was free to walk...sans clothing.

Gill, who had watched the entire scene from the entrance of On the Hook, looked absolutely mortified.

In the awkward silence that followed, only two sole cheers from Kathy and Angela resounded across the beach.


	5. Chapter 5

It had taken three grueling weeks of sweating, heatstroke and sunburns, but Angela's crops had finally germinated, thrived and been harvested. In fact, some of them were even perfect. She had finally hit the jackpot.

Unfortunately, she needed some animals to make her farm thrive since the end of Fall and Winter were less than hospitable to crops; which also meant she had to be responsible and not spend her money on drinks. Clothes, however, were a different story; she was one outfit away from pulling a Hamilton and walking around stark naked.

Animals came first though. While she had the cash, maybe she'd even invest in a coop too.

Money still couldn't change the fact that it was still god-awfully hot outdoors. Thanking whatever unearthly force might exist for the strategic placement of her hilltop house, Angela trotted down the overgrown path to Ganache Mine District.

As expected, she found Bo working tirelessly to chop down a tree that he no chance of bringing down and Luke was making less than flattering noises in the forest a short distance away.

Having intruded on other carpenter family rituals with less than desirable results, Angela used her better judgment and headed directly to Dale. As usual, she found him behind the counter, looking rather bored. Angela decided to remedy that.

"Dale. How much are coops?"

"Two thousand. Ten material stone and ten lumber. I'll throw in an incubator free of charge."

"Done." The farmer slapped the cash down on the counter and assumed Dale would know where to find the stone and lumber.

"Always a pleasure, should be done in two days." replied Dale, before he promptly kicked her out of his shop.

Angela assumed he was just eager to start on her coop and continued her scenic trip to Brownie Ranch. All in all, it was a rather boring walk until she rounded the corner and found Jin making his weekly rounds in the district.

He looked at Angela; Angela looked at him. Both said nothing; until Angela decided to break the tension.

"Hey there, Dr. Nice Ass."

Whoops.

"...What?" contrary to the word that came out of his mouth, he still looked rather stoic.

"Doctor Jin! What brings you to Ganache Mine District?" Angela congratulated herself on the nice save.

"I come here every week."

He neglected to mention why, not that it fazed Angela. She didn't really care at this point.

"Wow, that's nice. Have fun with that!" Angela bolted as far away, as fast as possible (while still looking sane).

Jin merely shrugged and continued on his walk.

---

"T-That much? It's a worm! That's more than my entire coop cost! Um, no offense, but what a rip-off. And those ostriches? Thirteen thousand? My _house_ isn't even worth that much."

Hanna frowned. "Times are tough here too, Angela. Maybe you'd rather have another cow or a sheep? We also have chickens, they may be more in your price range."

Angela did a mental count of her accumulated profits and took into account the red wool her latest rainbow recipe required.

"All right, I'll take a sheep and some fodder. You sell produce too, right?"

"Yes. We have eggs, cheese, honey..."

Bingo. Dale did say her new coop had an incubator and eggs were significantly less money than chickens.

"I'll also take an egg." Angela counted out the money and dropped it on the counter.

"Thanks for your patronage. We'll put your lamb and fodder in your barn." replied Hanna, handing a suitably unimpressed Angela an egg.

Who was going to handle those hefty purchases? Craig? After a few seconds of pondering, Angela decided it didn't really matter and continued out the door and out of the district.

Now, what else did she need to do again? Well, she needed fill the rainbow recipe, but given that she was a deeply rooted procrastinator and most of the ingredients weren't in season until fall, Angela put that off. She could have visited the Harvest Sprites, however that task required far more patience than she had at the moment and Hamilton was more than likely out frolicking in an undisclosed location.

After a few minutes of pondering, she finally came up with a viable solution: the tailor shop. The farmer had never visited there since its arrival and her clothes were, frankly, disgusting and riddled with holes. Besides, she had an entire 3000G left to burn.

It sounded like a good plan, but after an hour spent walking back to Waffle Town in the blistering heat, Angela was about to pass out, again. She doubted she was lucky enough to come across another Luke to rescue her again, or that she really wanted another encounter with Doctor Nice-Ass today.

Screw it. Angela was close enough, she could tough it out.

Surprisingly, she actually did manage to cover the rest of the distance to the tailor shop and didn't even resort to taking a dive in Maple Lake District's stagnant pond or the ocean. It was entirely too tempting, though.

Nudging open the shop's door, Angela immediately felt a rush of...warm air. Didn't anyone here have air conditioning?

"Hello! Welcome to the Waffle Town tailor...Whoa, you really reek." a cotton candy haired girl informed her as she walked in the door.

"Yeah, well, I am a farmer and it is disgustingly hot. Anyway, I need some new clothes."

Pink-hair made some disgruntled noises. "...So, how would you describe your style?"

"I don't know, or care really. Look, I have 3000G. What can I buy that's slightly less disgusting and I can actually work in? You obviously know something about these things."

"Me? You want me to try and pick something out for _you_?"

Angela was just about to attempt a reply when the door opened again, revealing an elderly woman.

"Luna, what have I told you about bothering the customers? You're making her feel uncomfortable! Forgive my granddaughter Miss..."

"Angela."

"I'm Shelly. Pleased to meet you, dear."

The rest of Angela's afternoon was spent trying on various outfits picked out by Luna. Much to Angela's dismay, most of them were variants of the one she already had on, just in different colours. The day wasn't a total waste; she'd gotten a new outfit and spent enough quality time with Luna, Luna's quiet sister what's-her-name and their grandmother to last a lifetime.

Ignoring the call of the Inn, Angela began her unhappy trudge home.

* * *

Angela had completely forgotten about her sheep (and egg, for that matter) until she made her way to the barn that morning to feed Bess the cow and got the shock of seeing a foreign lamb in her barn.

Her farm family was growing and she had to think up a great name for her sheep, one that would stand out above all of Craig's at the annual Animal Festival.

"Hmm, your name will be...Stalin." Technically, he wasn't exactly a socialist (she had an inconsistent theme to keep to, after all), but it had a nice ring to it. Angela ignored the fact that she had forgotten to ask the gender of the sheep and was relatively ignorant on the topic of animal anatomy.

Not that it mattered; Stalin gave a bleat of approval anyway. Angela proceeded to milk Bess and hum 'Beasts of England'.

Bess wasn't nearly as compromising as Stalin and decided to give her a decent milk, looking about as surly as a cow could possibly manage. Angela wondered if that would change if she saved up enough cash for one of those cow 'miracle potions'.

Angela shrugged and sauntered over to the shipping bin, tossing her decent milk inside.

Since her mundane chores took an entire twenty minutes and she wasn't ambitious enough to grow anymore crops with Winter only a few days away, Angela decided her best option was...to sleep for a few more hours; waking up at 6am every day was exhausting.

Angela exited the barn, careful to close the door this time and proceeded to walk up to her house and nudge her paper-thin door open.

No more than five seconds later, the farmer heard a rather loud knock at her door, causing her heart to jump into her throat. Briskly, she turned around and wedged open the door, only to find nobody there.

"Good morning Angela!"

Angela craned her head downwards and was met by Hamilton's blinding smile.

"Oh, um, good morning Mr. Hamilton!" She put on her own blinding smile and added a little giggle for effect.

"Have you heard about the Firefly Festival? It's tomorrow night at Caramel Falls. Make sure you bring someone special!"

Angela smirked and took a deep breath. "So, Mr. Hamilton, what are you doing for the Firefly Festival?"

"Why, I'll be working, of course!" He laughed, oblivious to Angela's inference.

Damn.

"Why, that sounds exciting. Thanks for telling me about the festival."

"Of course, of course! It is my job after all!" He waved and retreated from her doorstep.

Angela cursed and slammed her door. Slowly, she trotted over to her bed and flopped on it, spread eagle.

Another knock resounded through the house, causing Angela to muffle a groan in her pillow and begrudgingly walk over to the door yet another time.

"Hello, how are you?" Again, Angela saw nothing. However, having learned her lesson, she looked down.

It was a mound of pink hair; otherwise known as Luna.

"Uh, hi. Can I help you with something?"

"Actually, I brought this for you." Luna whipped out an over sized flower unique to Waffle Island and handed it to Angela.

"Um, are you coming onto me?" Angela took the flower and put in her rucksack.

"Excuse me?" Luna looked a touch offended.

Angela thought it was an excellent question. After all, she'd barely known Luna for a day. Apparently she'd made some impact on Luna during their afternoon 'bonding' over functional clothing.

"I mean, do you want to come in for tea or something?" It wasn't as if Angela had anything better to do.

"Well, since you're begging me, I guess I could..."

* * *

After Luna had finished telling Angela what a dump she owned, Angela actually found herself having a relatively good time chatting with Luna. She talked about clothes a lot, and occasionally gossiped about the people in the clothes. Most of her comments were negative, but some of them, usually involving Gill's sense of fashion, were positive.

To each their own, Angela supposed.

"Are you going on a date for the Firefly Festival, Angela?" Luna asked, sipping her tea.

"No, are you?" Angela never really had a soft spot girl talk.

"I wish I were. I even have the perfect dress picked out..." Luna frowned.

Angela shrugged and gulped down the last of her tea.

"Well, we could always go together, you know. As friends or something."

"Hmm, well, I would get a chance to wear that new dress made with Fim's fall pattern... So, I suppose we could..." the pink-haired girl smiled.

"Excellent," replied Angela. "Do you like cocktails?"

* * *

As promised, Luna met Angela at Caramel Falls on Summer 24th as soon as nightfall began to permeate throughout the island. Angela, always prepared, brought a multitude of blueberry cocktails.

"Well, I hope more will actually show up later. I was thinking about making a firefly-inspired dress; it would be the latest in Waffle Island haute couture."

"Waffle Island has what now?" Angela took a gulp of her cocktail and handed one to Luna, hoping that wasn't illegal or something.

"Never mind. Geez, you are dense, even for a farmer." Luna took the cocktail from Angela's hand and downed the entire thing in one gulp.

Angela was suitably impressed. Needless to say, by the time the fireflies (or those blob things that Angela assumed to be the fireflies) made an appearance, neither Luna nor Angela could form logical sentences.

Luna giggled. "Wooow, they're so pretty! I just want to capture it and stick it on a dress!"

"Yeah, it'd be a v-very beaut... beautiful dress!" Angela agreed.

If both of them weren't so impaired, they probably would have noticed the footfalls that were slowly resounding only a few meters away.

"...You really think so? Reallly? You're so nice, Angela!" Angela figured Luna must have been hammered; she actually said something nice.

"Yeah...I-" Angela was promptly silenced; by something rather unexpected too.

Luna's lips. It was hardly her first kiss, probably wouldn't be her last, and in the end Angela decided it was just one more experience to add to her growing list. For some reason, she just couldn't shake 'The Bad Touch' song that was now on rewind in her head.

Aforementioned footfalls abruptly stopped and if either Luna or Angela were actually paying attention, they may have noticed a small, strangled sound of surprise.

Luna pulled away and regarded her with a flighty look on her face. "S-Sorry! Guess I just got caught in the moment!"

Angela was about to respond when something caught the corner of her eye a few meters away. Squinting, she actually managed to make out some ugly shoes, capri pants, and...

Her impaired eyes didn't need to wander much farther before she saw a very shocked expression belonging to a very blonde man.

Damn it, Gill.

"...It figures..." he finally muttered, his breath hitched.

"What are you doing h-here?" Luna was oddly unperturbed.

"...I can't believe this..." Gill shook his head, did a complete turn away from them and walked back down the narrow path to Caramel Lake District.

Angela tilted her head to the side and faced Luna again.

"I t-thought guys were usually into that sort of thing?"

Luna merely shrugged and downed another cocktail.

Angela hoped neither of them would remember any of this in the morning.


	6. Chapter 6

Slowly, summer began to meld into fall. New residents arrived, and thus far, none had left. The island was beginning to seem just a tiny bit more prosperous. It was odd, however, that of the 'new' residents that arrived, only one had not lived on the island before.

Both the orphan, Chase, and the elderly owner of the tailor shop had resided on the island before and left for some undisclosed reason. Even the daughter of general store owners was supposedly moving back.

Perhaps there was hope for the island after all.

Angela, however, had yet to produce another rainbow. The flow of residents to the island would eventually stagnate if the present situation remained; the island was still lacking any great draw. Eventually, he would have to confront her. There was one small flaw with this logic: Gill still couldn't look Angela or Luna in the eye.

He was neither progressive nor a prude and as consenting adults they could do as they wished; however, the thought still irked him for some indistinguishable reason.

Gill tapped his pencil against the desk with a frustrating lack of concentration and stared blankly at his paperwork.

"...No, he's not here today I'm afraid, Angela. If you have some pressing business, perhaps you could talk to Mr. Gill..."

"That's fine, Elli. I'll think I'll pass on that headache today."

Slowly, without much thought, Gill rose from his chair and walked with more confidence than he actually felt towards the front of the town hall.

Angela regarded him suspiciously. He flushed, unable to meet her eyes, and made one last attempt to smooth his hair and look self-assured.

"Angela. Care to join me for lunch at the Inn?"

"Not particularly." Angela frowned.

Gill bit back a snarky reply. He doubted he would get another opportunity or gather enough patience to discuss the island with Angela in the near future; no matter how loathsome she was.

"I'll buy."

"Done." Angela's frown transformed into a smirk. "When do you want to leave?"

"Now. Elli, I'll be out for the rest of the afternoon; should my father come looking, do me a favour and don't tell him where I am or what I'm doing." Gill began to walk out the door, pleased to notice that Angela was actually following him, and left behind a rather bewildered Elli.

They made their way down to the inn without a word; which suited Gill just fine. He didn't particularly want to talk to her, unless it involved island business.

Gill opened the heavy oaken door and waited for Angela; who, in turn, gave him a rather odd look before proceeding to walk past him. She couldn't possibly be inferring that he might drop it on her, though he had to admit it was tempting.

"Oh! Welcome! Would you like to get lunch?" Jake asked, looking oddly chipper.

Gill was about to reply when he noticed the Inn's other occupants. Or, more specifically, a certain tubby little man in a flamboyant coat grinning ear to ear and remaining oddly quiet.

"Yes, we'd like lunch. To go." Gill replied, rather irritated.

"W-Wait, where are we going?" Angela looked as though she couldn't figure out whether to focus on him or his father.

Where did she think they were going? He would hear enough about this encounter later, without staying where his eccentric father was within eavesdropping range.

"Angela. We're going to have a picnic."

* * *

"Why are you doing this? I'm sure it's not out of the goodness of your heart." Angela was oddly upset for a woman who had just received a free lunch.

Gill frowned and focused on the waves lapping against the beach.

"...There was a book on Waffle Island lore that refers to a series of ingredients needed to revive the Mother Tree, should anything ever cause it to cease growing or die; it also had some interesting information regarding rainbows and the island. Apparently, the harvest sprites exist to make rainbows." He paused and waited for a response.

"...What interesting speculation." Angela commented, entirely unimpressed.

"I know you've been collecting the ingredients, Angela. Why did you stop? Don't you know what this means to the island?" He paused and looked at the farmer.

Angela began to laugh. Flustered, Gill pushed himself out of the sand and crossed his arms over his chest.

Couldn't she comprehend the implications of what he just said? This sole farmer held the key to reviving the island! Soil could improve, people could begin moving to the island in droves, Waffle Town's municipal government would no longer be in debt and they could afford a policeman and even a school like Flowerbud Village! This was a matter of the utmost importance!

Slowly, Angela's laughter died down. "You of all people should know it isn't that simple. I'd love to help the island; well, all right, I'd love to help the island if it was convenient for me..." Gill let out a pronounced sigh. "But I don't have the means to do it."

"What are you implying? It couldn't possibly be that hard!" he made a rather baffling gesture with his arms.

"How would you know? You can't see the sprites anymore, let alone get them to make rainbows! How in the hell would you know how hard it is? If it was so damn easy, why didn't you do it?" Angela removed herself from the sand and stared Gill directly in the eye.

How could she possibly know his feelings in the matter? She hadn't lived on the island since birth and witnessed its change into a destitute mess. The girl had barely been here two seasons! Angela couldn't possibly fathom his situation!

"Idiot. Don't you think I tried? I was just a child, Angela!"

"Maybe you just weren't trying hard enough." Her face contorted into a sneer.

"Was I not speaking clearly? There was nothing I could do!"

Gill stared at her, waiting for her to speak, yell, something. Instead, she just turned her back to him and watched the ocean listlessly. The air around them seemed stifling and he could hear his own irate breathes over the calm ocean lapping at the shoreline.

"...You could help me, you know." Her voice was eerily calm and void of any raw emotion.

A wave of emotions crashed over him. Disbelief, anger, and relief made their way through his mind before leaving him exhausted and unable to find the drive to continue arguing with the farmer.

"What is it that you're having so much trouble with?" Gill finally relented.

"...A banana," replied Angela, oddly frustrated.

"...I do hope you're joking." Angela shook her head and Gill sighed. "You know you can find those on Toucan Island."

"Oh. Maybe I should get one, huh?"

* * *

Despite the fact that it was only four o'clock by the time he finished sorting out a decent approach to gathering the items for the latest rainbow with Angela, Gill found he had little desire to return to the town hall. There was too much to think about, too much to plan. His mind was already swimming without attempting to budget the New Year's festival one full season in advance.

Reaching his residence, Gill made one last attempt to brush sand off his immaculate white suit before pushing open the door.

To no one's great surprise, Hamilton was waiting for him the moment he set foot inside the manor.

Gill watched him open his mouth and decided to take a preemptive strike.

"No." he said, glancing back toward the staircase and lifting his foot to the first stair. Hamilton was undeterred.

"Why, I remember when your mother and I enjoyed our first date! Come now, don't deny it! That farmer would make a fabulous wife and now you just need to finish roping her in! Now, don't be shy, I saw..."

"Father, I'm rather tired. If you need assistance with dinner, I'll be in my room." The mayor's son made his way up the stairs as fast as he possibly could.

"But my boy! We have so many plans to discu--"

Gill slammed his door shut and drew a blank piece of paper out from beneath a stack of books.

Angela was obviously hopeless and would need all the help she could get.


	7. Chapter 7

So maybe Angela had exaggerated. Collecting rainbow recipes wasn't actually as hard as she made it out to be; that little pissant was just so arrogant. If Gill cared so much about the island's welfare, then by all means, she would be pleased to let him fill the recipes for her.

Despite herself, the farmer still felt just a bit guilty making him do all the work; and so, she found herself tilling the land for an extra row of spinach seeds in the pouring rain. Angela always did have a tendency to pick the worst days to be ambitious.

On the bright side, Angela had made a tidy profit from Stalin's latest coat of wool and purchased a 'miracle potion' for Bess who was now happily pregnant and giving perfect milk. She even had a chicken, Tito, for added monetary security; or, more frequently, a free breakfast. Maybe it was time to expand her little operation and price out more land? It couldn't possibly be that much.

Angela wiped some stray water from her forehead as a crash of thunder echoed in the distance. Stepping backwards, the farmer briefly surveyed her land. From the muddy soil to her fledgling pumpkins, everything was in order; unlike her shack.

Even freshly upgraded, it lacked central heating and somehow managed to leak during particularly fierce rainstorms. She had also neglected to buy any appliances other than her minuscule oven. Needless to say, it all contributed to the countless hours Angela spent at the Inn.

Angela's stomach made a very pronounced protest. Frowning, she lugged her hoe back to its resting place in her barn and made off towards the Inn.

It wasn't a long walk; however, the slick streets forced an already accident prone Angela to exert extra care. Despite a few bruises, she managed to make it to the Inn relatively unscathed.

Ignoring the mud plastered to her body, Angela grasped the slippery door handle and shoved open the heavy door. She was greeted by the familiar warmth and the smell of fine cuisine.

"I've never seen you before. Are you a new worker here?" Some man with apricot coloured hair made his way towards her with an unsettling smile on his face.

"Er, yeah. I'm Angela; I'm attempting to run a ranch down in Caramel River District."

"You're running a ranch? Good luck. Anyway, I'm Chase. I'm Yolanda's apprentice cook." His smile looked like it was about to break under some metaphysical strain at any moment.

Glancing desperately for a polite way to excuse herself from his company, Angela's attention focused on a familiar figure only a few feet away. Dressed in his eccentric overcoat, he was rather hard to miss. It took only a few seconds for Hamilton to notice her and when he did, the result was better than she could have imagined. His chubby little face lit up and he began to wave rather emphatically.

Naturally, Angela smiled and waved back with just as much enthusiasm and excused herself from Chase. Making her way over to the mayor, she was oddly unsurprised to find her heart beat just that much more frantically.

"H-Hello Mr. Hamilton!" she managed to choke out.

"Angela! How very nice to see you, my dear! Don't be shy, pull up a seat right next to me here!" he laughed; the sound was unique to men of shorter stature and chubby structure.

Angela giggled rather dimly and did as she was bid. The farmer tried incredibly hard to contain the blush that was threatening to make its way across her face. Hamilton was oblivious to her plight.

"So, I've noticed you and Gill are becoming rather close! That's excellent! He could use someone such as yourself. The poor boy has been so shut in. Ever since his mother died, I've done my best in raising him, but I can only do so much! He needs a positive female influence." Waffle Island's mayor was smiling, though it was a drastically different from Chase's hollow one. The smile was nostalgic and sincere.

It tugged at Angela's heart. However, no matter what lied in the past, she could only feign so much interest in Gill. She could help him somewhat with his aspirations involving the island, but in the end he was cold and calculative; hardly the type of man she was after.

There was no way she could tell poor Hamilton that she wasn't interested in his son; and she was, in fact, more interested in the mayor himself (having come to the conclusion some time ago). There were, understandably, certain complications that stood in the way. Her heart began to sink.

"...I understand." Angela answered; her voice foreign to her own ears.

"How wonderful! I hoped you would!" The stout man was positively beaming once more, causing Angela to feel guilty all over again.

She hoped Hamilton didn't take that as her declaration of love for his arrogant son.

"I should, um, be leaving now Mr. Hamilton." Angela pushed herself up from the chair and gazed resentfully out the window where the storm was getting progressively worse.

"So soon? Well, don't be a stranger now! You're welcome to visit anytime!" Mayor Hamilton's face fell, though his smile did not vanish.

"...Thank you. I'll see you later." The farmer made her way out the door without a backward glance and woefully without a meal.

The sky had grown dark during her time indoors and lightning had begun to rip through the sky. Angela was drenched beyond reasonable belief; though it was, admittedly, her own fault. Trudging by the street lamps the thought finally occurred to her that maybe, just maybe, she should invest in a rain jacket and patch up things up with Luna while she was at it.

* * *

"Let me guess, a rain coat, right? You're the third one today." Luna looked frustrated.

"Yeah, and about the Firefly Festival..." Angela started.

Luna sighed and shook her head. "That's why I hate cocktails. I shouldn't have been dumb enough to let you force me into drinking them."

Angela frowned and watched Luna's cotton-candy hair bounce from hanger to hanger on the rack; no longer feeling the need to apologize.

Luna abruptly pulled a seemingly random jacket from the line and tossed it at Angela, who slid it over herself.

A perfect fit and it even looked good; freaking Luna. She drew out the allotted money and placed it on the counter in front of Shelly.

"Thank you for your patronage!" Luna grinned.

"Thanks for the coat," replied Angela before sauntering out the door.

It was only three o'clock; the street lamps were illuminated and the sky was dark. Time seemed to be moving obscenely slow.

Angela began walking across the cobblestone path, face down and transfixed by the rain bouncing increasingly high.

"Angela," a distinctly male voice caught her attention. "What do you think you're doing out here?"

She looked up and found herself staring into a pair of cold blue eyes. Regarding him blankly, she considered her options and decided to just ignore the irritant and keep walking.

"Angela. You're going to catch a cold." He sounded frustrated.

"Probably." She kept on moving towards the edge of town.

"You idiot, you can't possibly mean that."

The farmer didn't even grace him with a reply. She just wanted to get home, as far away as possible from anyone.

Gill didn't attempt to follow her.

* * *

During the next week, Angela had decided to make a genuinely balls-to-the-wall attempt at farming. On top of growing her regular six or so rows of crops, she invested in twelve more. Instead of saving up for feed for winter, the farmer cut stacks upon stacks of fodder and increased the amount of time she spent with her animals two-fold.

Needless to say, retreating to life as a hermit was very beneficial to her farm and, indirectly, her rainbow recipe gathering.

She had yielded not just one, but three perfect spinach, produced red wool yarn, and found a frozen banana in the back of her fridge. Angela was even lucky enough to be given a blue wonderful by some kid in the mining district and the only thing that was missing was a saury; fishing never was her forte.

Eventually, she'd have to leave her encampment; the Art Festival had already eluded her and she was in desperate need of more land, even temporarily, having maximized her crop output. To be honest, she had not really planned the road ahead and while she was making money on Waffle Island, she was leading a rather mundane life.

Angela had always known her crush on Mayor Hamilton was doomed to failure, but what she hadn't realized was the distinct lack of other options. Her prospects on the island were rather dismal; and while she didn't exactly miss the city, she didn't know how much longer farming would satisfy her.

First things first, the farmer needed more land and that required a trip to her new least favourite location.

Putting aside her feelings, the farmer hopped her pasture fence and proceeded to take the longest route possible to Waffle Square.

Angela trudged down the dirt path, eventually winding up along the beach. After a few more minutes of walking (and pondering how much sand would inevitably wind up in her sole pair of shoes), she found herself near the entrance of On the Hook. From there, she made her way down the familiar Waffle Town path and up the stairs that led to town hall. It took all her resolve to actually push through the familiar doors and slap on a look of confidence.

Elli was stationed in her usual area behind that counter as Angela began to make her way over.

"Oh, Angela! Is there something I can help you with today?"

"Actually, I was wondering how much it would cost for some land by the town?" It must have been a shocker for poor Elli, she rarely had a purpose after all.

"That plot costs 4500G. Would you like to buy it?"

The farmer set the money on the counter with a smirk. Elli took it with a gentle smile.

"Just one moment please, I'll need to have you fill out some forms..." The receptionist ducked and began rooting around for what Angela assumed to be the paperwork for her new land; from her new vantage point, Angela could now clearly see what events were transpiring in the town hall.

Gill and his father were talking rather animately just out of her earshot. It was comical really, Hamilton was positioned stiffly in a chair behind a rather elaborate desk and Gill was moving his arms up and down exasperatedly.

"They're discussing the Harvest Festival plans. Though, you'd never guess with the way they're going about it." Elli chuckled and handed her a few papers and a pen. "You can use the desk over there near the door or fill them out in the library if that's more comfortable. Just bring them back to me when you're done."

Angela nodded and decided to fill them in the upstairs library; it allowed her to avoid the mayor and his son, and she had never actually visited the library.

She soon found out why she had neglected to visit the library; it boasted a dismal amount of books, yet was oddly cramped due to the space taken up by the school room. The area in its entirety was a woefully forgettable place.

Papers in hand, she slowly pulled up a chair at one of the desks at the far end of the room and began filling in information with her back to the stairs.

The questions were rather standard; her name, birth date and an added few regarding how she planned to use the land and for how long. None required a great reach of her mental capabilities, but paperwork was always a tedious task for Angela.

A chair beside her squeaked under the weight of a new occupant; Angela pretended to be absorbed in filling out the sheets of paper. The man cleared his throat causing her to stare blankly into his eyes.

"Angela." He frowned.

"Congratulations Gill, you learned my name. You may now pass go and collect two hundred dollars." She rolled her eyes and continued to scribble on the page. What could he possibly want now? To give her a lecture on personal responsibility and ask why she was frolicking in a thunderstorm last week?

Gill made a frustrated grunt. "I've been meaning to ask you, have you finished the rainbow recipe?"

"No."

"What are you missing?" He pressed while drumming his fingers along the desk.

"A saury." Angela replied as she finished filling out the papers and rose from the chair. Gill, stubborn as ever, stood as well.

"Stop running from me. I want to help the island prosper. This is the only place I have ever known and the only place I want to live. I want the children that grow up here to feel the same." He sounded sincere and there was an oddly desperate look on his face.

She supposed that ignoring him this time would just be akin to kicking a puppy. Putting aside her personal grievances, Angela sucked up her pride.

"What do you want me to do? I have no talent for fishing and frankly, I have a farm to run."

Gill shook his head. "...If I get you a saury, will you finish making the rainbow?"

She was planning on making that rainbow anyway, but this did make things far easier.

"I suppose that could be arranged..."

* * *

In what was quickly becoming a regular morning occurrence, Angela awoke to someone knocking with an odd amount of vigour on her door. Quietly, so as not lead her mysterious knocker to believe she was indeed home, she pushed off her blanket and padded over to the calendar.

It was Fall 27, the Harvest Festival. Hamilton was later than usual. Maybe if she ignored him, he'd go away.

After the tenth knock, she assumed he had finally given up.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she made her way over to her pathetic kitchen and flipped through her equally pathetic recipe book. It sported one sole entry: potato soup.

Digging through her admittedly disgusting fridge, she managed to find two potatoes from the previous spring. It wouldn't matter, right? It was just soup. Shrugging, she tossed them in the pot and within the hour had what she presumed to be a decent dish for entry in the cooking festival.

Having left her animals out the previous night and deciding to shirk her crop tending for the day, Angela figured she actually had a reasonable possibility of making it to the festival on time provided she left right now.

As it turned out, there really wasn't a need for her to rush to Brownie Ranch. The competition didn't start for another hour and entering a dish had effectively trapped her at the ranch until the judging began.

She didn't feel like shopping or participating in some odd game thought up by a resident, so Angela wandered around desperately searching for anyone she knew well enough to start up a conversation with. To her chagrin, Kathy was enthusiastically participating in the town's favourite hobby, shopping. Owen was nowhere to be found (not the she knew him that well anyway) and Luke was similarly missing in action.

Meandering around the barn proved to be relatively pointless; until she caught sight of Luna rounding the other path. Lacking any other options, Angela attempted to casually walk over and start a conversation. Since Luna often seemed to have a one track mind (not unlike Angela, really), she decided fashion was a relatively safe topic.

"Hey Luna, is that a new dress?" Unfortunately, Angela was woefully inept in the art of tactful conversation.

Luna stared at her blankly before answering. "Yes. I'm surprised that you noticed, actually..."

Luckily, Luna was an excellent conversationalist. They spent the next ten minutes discussing the finer points of the dress and how the colour simply brought out her eyes and drew attention. Angela apparently gave all the right answers, as the pink-haired girl seemed quite enamoured with the topic and even managed a few smiles. However, even Luna could grow tired of the same stale topic.

"So, Angela, have you met any nice men here?" Luna asked with a sly smile spread across her face.

"Not exactly. I could ask you the same thing." Angela attempted to dodge the question.

"Well, there is one. It's not a big deal or anything though. It really would be nice if I could find a prince here, though."

"Good luck finding that. Maybe I'll abandon my dreams of farming and just marry a rich, old tycoon from the city." It wasn't a far stretch, really. If she couldn't find a nice man, she had better find one that was filthy rich.

"Hmm. I think money is actually an important factor when looking for a husband."

"I was joking, but--"

Angela was interrupted as the judging announcement blared across the fields, calling all contestants and gathering most of the townsfolk; including Luna and herself.

"Good luck." Luna whispered.

Angela fidgeted as Yolanda and Chase made their way to the podium. Actually, as it turned out, Chase was also entering a dish. It was hardly fair, but there was little she could do now.

Slowly, the pair made their way along the table sampling every dish and writing notes down, expressionless. That is, until they made it to Angela's potato monstrosity; even the most stoic couldn't stand a chance against it.

Yolanda's face contorted as she furiously scribbled something in her notebook; Chase was reaching for a garbage can. Angela couldn't suppress her merriment. If she couldn't win, where was the harm in bringing them down with her?

When both were finally done judging and announced the winner, it was hardly a surprise that Chase won; sneaky bastard and his shining dishes. Angela came in dead last.

However, both judges more than likely also came down with food poisoning; which was good enough for Angela. Having wreaked enough havoc for one day, Angela collected what was left of Potato Soup.

According to Chase, it was more than likely an already semi-conscious being. Since she couldn't bring home her friend the cat from Maple Lake District, she may as well keep Potato Soup. It would be like a pet rock, only it could grow fungus.

"Well Potato Soup, we didn't win, but the important thing is that we tried our best." Angela smirked.

* * *

Once more, Angela awoke to the sound of someone banging on her door. With a yawn, she checked the calendar and noted the absence of any kind of festival.

"Angela! Open the damn door!" a frustrated voice yelled.

"Sorry, I'm naked!" Angela called; it wasn't a total lie, and she could have been. It served him right for demanding anything of her at six in the morning.

Gill responded by sighing heavily. Angela decided that her fun was over and trotted over to unlock the door.

"About time. I have the fish. Let's go." He turned back around.

"Hey, I have chores to finish!" Couldn't he grab some patience?

Gill frowned. "You have all day. Do them later."

After a few seconds of quiet persistence, Angela relented and followed him in silence all the way to Waffle Square; where, with some glee, Angela noted that he couldn't follow her along the rainbow.

"This could take a while, you know." She still had to search for Ben's badge.

"I'll wait." The blonde crossed his arms impatiently.

Angela shrugged and ran up and over the rainbow to the Gull Islands. Ignoring the fruit and other consumables she could sell for profit, the farmer made her way over to the Harvest Sprite and promptly gave him a good soaking before dropping her ingredients on him. Luckily for both parties, the sprite didn't take any offense and proceeded to craft a rainbow. He even had the badge.

As expected, Angela had no problems making her way over to the nearly identical twin island. Finding Ben's badge wasn't even that difficult; the item was shining obscenely and contrasted the sand.

Gill had better be satisfied, because she doubted she would be going through the hassle again. For what was sure to be the first time in her life, Angela meant it quite literally.


	8. Chapter 8

Throughout his life, Gill had been unbearably lonely.

His mother succumbed to her weak constitution when he was only seven years old; leaving behind his unfit father and forcing Gill to grow up faster to fill the void in their small family left by the departure of his mother. The town children were woefully bereft of comprehension regarding his situation; the sprites, however, understood. They listened, played games with him and even allowed him to glimpse the goddess so many years ago.

Like most things Gill grew attached to, the sprites disappeared with the island's prosperity. That was nearly ten years ago; however, like most things from one's childhood, it drastically shaped his adult ambitions. He wanted the island to prosper, he wanted people to be attracted to the island and start families. Someday, in the foreseeable future, he wanted to open a school on the island and teach like his mother before him.

Nothing would be possible without years of planning. Even if Angela failed to revive the mother tree, there could be progress; it would just be more difficult.

Gill sipped his tea and pretended to be vaguely interested in the newspaper clutched in his hands, ignoring the pair of eyes staring at him from across the table. On a regular Sunday, he'd have made it a priority to write in his journal. Unfortunately, said item had gone missing a few days ago; leaving him with significantly less constructive ways to occupy his free time.

After a few more sips, he relented and looked up from the paper.

"Do you need something, father?" He frowned, slightly agitated.

Pleased to finally be addressed, Hamilton grinned. "Why, have you given any thought to the Thanksgiving festival?"

"No. Why would I need to?"

"Well, you seem to be getting rather close to that nice Angela girl. In fact, Elli told me you even spent most of the day with her just a few days ago!"

"It was strictly business. You're getting the wrong impression." Gill took another sip of tea and drained the cup of its contents.

"Fine, fine. What about the tailor's granddaughter? I believe Luna was her name...She seems to be quite the practiced saleswoman! She would make an excellent wife! Wouldn't you agree?" the Mayor hid a chuckle with his hand.

Honestly, where did he come up with such assumptions? Angela, he could partially understand. Gill was spending an abhorrent amount of time with her, as of late. However, he had barely interacted with Luna at all beyond negotiating the price of his latest suit and his father's flamboyant coat.

"Why are you suddenly so interested in my personal life?" Well, Hamilton had always been interested; he had just never perused the questions with quite as much enthusiasm.

"Why, you are my only son after all! Can't I be just a bit interested in your welfare?" The stout man was still smirking.

Gill sighed and removed himself from the table to prepare more tea in the cramped kitchen. He had just finished boiling the water when a few tentative knocks echoed through the house, sending Hamilton scrambling to open the door. Curious, Gill poked his head around the corner of the kitchen entrance as the door opened with a screech.

"Oh my! Angela, come in, come in!" Hamilton ushered her in with a pudgy hand on her shoulder, causing her face to turn a unique shade of red. "Is there something we can do for you today?"

"A-Actually, Mr. Hamilton, is Gill in? I might have found something that belongs to him..." she was clutching something that looked suspiciously familiar.

"Oh, of course! He's just in the kitchen over there!" The mayor grinned and Angela looked rather uncomfortable.

Gill snapped back around and pretended to be concentrating heavily on how much water to add to the teapot as the farmer made her way cautiously into the kitchen.

"This yours? I heard you complaining about losing something. I found it by the bulletin board and I doubt it's anyone else's judging by the gigantic gold 'G' plastered on the front." She sounded rather unimpressed with the entire ordeal.

Angela presented a rather elegant book. Upon closer inspection, Gill realized that it was, in fact, his missing diary. The realization caused him to nearly spill his tea in an effort to set it down and snatch the book.

"Y-You didn't read anything, did you?"

"Yeah, actually. I made sure I read through every damn entry before coming over here. Never know when these opportunities will present themselves, right?" A devious smile spread across her face.

Gill felt his heart beat frantically. Didn't she have any moral standards?

"A-Angela! How dare you! Why didn't you just--"

"Relax. I wasn't serious. I was sorely tempted to read it, but it looked important. What thoughts are you hiding in there, anyway?" Angela rolled her eyes and made her way back towards the door.

"W-Wait!" the blonde attempted.

Angela continued out the door.

"Well, how nice of her to visit!" Hamilton chuckled.

Gill merely shook his head.

* * *

"What's this for?"

Was she that ignorant of Waffle Island customs?

"It's for Winter Thanksgiving. Just take it." Gill handed her a box containing shortcake and lavender.

Even with all her faults, Gill still felt somewhat indebted to the farmer. With a little persuasion and prying, Hamilton had successfully convinced him what a wonderful idea it would be to bring her a gift. Factoring in the diary incident, Gill was actually inclined to agree.

"Thanks, I guess." Angela looked suitably confused.

Glancing to the fields beside them, Gill noticed they were no longer sporting a vast array of foliage. In fact, her entire farm looked oddly desolate and forlorn in the crisp new snow.

"I thought you purchased a new plot for growing more crops?" The mayor's son frowned.

"Change of plans." Angela's brows furrowed.

"What about the rainbows?"

"Gill, I need to go feed my animals."

Obviously, this was hardly the case as Angela was currently in her slippers and what he assumed to be her nightclothes.

"I'll be going now. I have work to attend to." Gill decided to drop the subject; he'd have plenty of other opportunities to address it later.

"Fine. Thanks for the cake." Angela shut the door without waiting for a reply.

Deciding not to be offended by her usual antics, Gill shoved his hands in his suit pockets and set off down the dirt path.

When he finally arrived at the town hall, the usual chatter of Elli and Hamilton came to an abrupt halt as they shared a knowing smile and waited for him to divulge some shred of information. He wouldn't give them the satisfaction.

The blonde ignored their gazes and settled himself in his desk. Picking up a stray pen, he began to write in his diary. By now, Gill assumed the silence was grating on Hamilton; he had never been a quiet man.

"...So, my boy, how did it go? Was she excited?" The mayor never ceased to fulfill his expectations.

"Not particularly." Gill decided to forgo his musing to stare directly at Hamilton.

"Why, I thought for sure she'd be pleased!" The chubby man looked disappointed. "Oh well, I'm sure you'll win her eventually!" he grinned again and toddled back over to Elli.

The mayor's son shook his head and returned to his musings.

"Oh? You're here for Gill? Fabulous! He's right over there!" he heard Hamilton chuckle from the counter.

Who could possibly have any business with him now? Judging by Hamilton's reaction, it was a woman and he doubted it Angela would have scrambled down to the town hall in such a timely manner.

"Hey, I've been really busy baking this year and I made one for you too! I hope you enjoy it!"

It was Luna. Complete with pink hair and frills.

"Thank you." Gill smiled and accepted the cake. Maybe the morning wasn't a waste.

"You're welcome! I should get going now." Luna blushed and made her way out the door.

In a unique attempt at stealth, Hamilton sauntered over to Gill's desk. Grinning, he casually peered at the box. The mayor's son sighed.

"Not one word, father."


	9. Chapter 9

A combination of disastrous weather at the end of fall and the start of winter had taken a toll on Angela's farm. Over half her fall harvest had been wiped out completely and it was too late in the season to grow any new produce. Scratch that, too late in the _year_ to grow any produce.

Just when she thought she had the entire farming thing under control, something had to go wrong. She still had her animals, but taking fodder into consideration, she was back to barely having enough money to keep her out of poverty. The entire land package deal was hardly worth the stress. Angela thought if she could tough it out until spring, things would look up; but as things were now, she wasn't in a position to last until the New Year.

Maybe she could sell her excess land? It would obviously be terrible for her reputation, but her only other option would be to start selling her animals; a prospect that would have to be a last resort. Though there was admittedly little keeping her on Waffle Island beyond guilt.

Angela sighed and looked out the window; it was another clear afternoon and the sunlight was bouncing off the crisp new snow. The district looked cold and starkly beautiful.

Pulling on her boots, Angela decided there was no better time than now to make a trip to town hall and consider her options.

After opening the door, she quickly regretted the decision. If it was even possible, the air outside seemed colder than it had just a few hours prior when she trotted out to feed her animals. Shivering, she did up a few more buttons on her jacket and closed the door behind her.

Deciding to take the path through the Maple Lake District, it all took about the same amount of time in the long run; Angela took off down the slippery path.

She only made it to around the vicinity of Chase's house when she heard an odd little sound. Inquisitive, Angela stopped and listened. The sound appeared to be coming from just a few feet away, near some shrubbery.

Angela tentatively padded over to the bushes and moved aside some stray branches, the snow making her uncovered hands throb. Peering down into the freshly cleared area, Angela was mortified to find the cat she regularly visited in the district.

"What are you doing here, huh? It's cold, little guy." she reached out a hand and was relatively surprised to find that, unlike prior attempts, the cat did not make a move to take a chunk out of her hand. If fact, it barely even made a move; which worried her.

Taking a chance, Angela scooped up the cat and tucked it inside her warm coat. Luckily, this time the cat didn't struggle or attempt to break from her grasp. It shivered, but made no other movements.

"Figures there's no vet here...Where am I gonna take you, bud?"

Someone at Brownie Ranch may know something; however, the ranch was a fair distance away. Considering her present location, Angela decided she may as well try the clinic. People weren't that different from animals, right?

Making sure the cat was securely in her jacket, Angela took off down the road once again.

* * *

"Can you take a look at him, please? I found him in one of the bushes down by Maple Lake District." Angela took her coat off, complete with the cat that was looking a little livelier.

Doctor Nice Ass looked suitably unimpressed; then again, he always looked like that.

"I don't see anything wrong with him, Angela. He has a thick coat of fur and does not appear to have been outdoors for very long. Just make sure he stays warm and hydrated. I assume you're keeping him, correct?" Jin replied nonchalantly, adjusting his glasses.

"Yeah, I'm not just going to dump him back out there." Angela proceeded to put her coat back on and tucked the cat back in it.

"If his condition grows any worse, bring him back in tomorrow."

"Okay, thanks a bunch. I'll be going then." Angela smiled, relieved, and set her hand on the door handle.

"Of course." Jin genuinely smiled back at her, causing Angela to just about lose her balance.

Retreating out the door, Angela glanced toward the clock tower. It read three o'clock, plenty of time to make it back to the town hall. They would mind her companion, would they?

Making her way down the path and up the stairs, Angela found herself at the town hall in less than ten minutes. Opening the door and making a small attempt to pull her jacket up just a bit more over the cat, Angela meandered into the town hall.

As per usual, Elli was sitting at the front counter, Gill was preoccupied at his desk and Hamilton was nowhere to be found.

"Hey, Elli..." Angela walked over to the reception desk slowly. "I'd like to talk to you about that land I purchased."

Elli smiled. "What is it you need, Angela? More land?"

"Actually, uh, I was wondering if it's possible to sell it back."

"Oh dear, I'm afraid we can't do that. Is there any reason why you don't need it anymore?"

"Yeah, actually, my crop output isn't quite what it once was." Angela shuffled nervously. Why was this so hard?

"I see. I'm sorry, Angela. You'll just have to hold onto it. Things will get better come spring!" The receptionist attempted a softer smile.

Unfortunately, there went that plan. Angela shook her head, and turned around, preparing herself for the cold walk back to her farm.

"Angela. I need to talk to you."

The farmer turned and was unsurprised to find that Gill had managed to sneak up beside her. Didn't he always need to talk to her these days?

"Fine. Talk." she managed to say, frustrated.

"Not here. Meet me at Alan's tree around six." the mayor's son sounded rather arrogant, not that it was anything out of the ordinary.

"Gill, it's cold and I don't particularly want to walk up there in the dark. You can tell me now or it can wait."

It was always something with him, wasn't it? If he wanted to talk rainbow recipes, she may as well be warm while doing it.

"...F-Fine. Let's talk by the clock tower then. Now." Gill stammered, and looked downwards, slightly less confident.

"All right. But this had better be quick." Angela shifted the weight in her jacket around to prevent her arm from going numb.

The blonde made his way back over to the door, pausing momentarily. "...Angela, are you aware your coat's purring?"

"Yeah, it's a going concern."

* * *

Even with Angela's added insulation, it was freezing out. Gill was sure taking his sweet time preparing whatever words he was cooking up under that blonde head.

"Angela, I know we've had our differences, but I can't stop thinking about you. How would you feel about going steady with me? That is, if you don't have feelings for anyone else." He sounded nervous and if Angela could actually see his facial features, he would more than likely be redder than a tomato.

This was rich. Gill had set himself up perfectly. Angela felt just a twinge of guilt, but she knew she'd have to tell him at some point.

"I can't say the same. There's someone else."

"Y-You're rejecting me?! How dare you! A-And for who? Luke? Chase?" Gill was irate now and incredibly rude too, but that wasn't out of the ordinary either.

Well, at least she didn't feel guilty now.

"You mean you haven't noticed? I've always known you were a jerk, but I didn't think you were this dense. Think a little harder."

"W-What? Angela, you're impossible!" The mayor's son flailed his arms in exasperation.

"Gill, I have feelings for Hamilton, your, uh, dad." Angela supposed there was really no way she could put that tactfully.

As expected, he was speechless. In fact, the result was better than expected; he looked about ready to hit the cold dirt. It served him right.

Angela shook her head and made an attempt to leave.

"...Why?" Gill asked quietly, unable to look her in the eye.

"He's a nice person who treats everyone kindly. I can't say the same for you. Look, it doesn't really matter now anyway. I wasn't planning on telling anyone yet, but I'm going back to the city. You were right, this place is nothing like the brochure and I can barely make a living here."

"I-I'm leaving now." The mayor's son abruptly brushed past her and left without a second glace, leaving her alone in square.

The farmer hadn't expected him to take it well; but what did he expect?

Sighing, Angela checked on her cat. At least he seemed happy.

"You know what? I think I'm going to name you Hamilton."

The orange cat yawned in reply.

* * *

Angela spent the following week tying off loose ends and avoiding the mayor and his son as best she could while making preparations to leave the island.

Much to her dismay, Angela was forced to sell all her animals, with the exception of Hamilton the cat. She had no intention of farming after her departure from the island. While she was sure the animals would be safe and happy at Brownie Ranch, she still found herself very attached to her sources of income.

Needless to say, Angela wouldn't miss the island. Even if she spent the rest of her lifetime haunted by the goddess with blue hair, it still wouldn't be worth staying on the island. She did her best and now it was time to move on.

Fine, so she might miss the Ocean Festival and she might have felt guilty leaving her recipe collecting job half done. It was a relatively small price to pay and the island did affront her with a valuable piece of mind, even if it was 'don't ever take up farming again'. Besides, Kathy promised to call her and Luke promised to write. However, Kathy was hardly reliable and she doubted Luke could read, let alone write.

Now was hardly the time for regrets anyway. The boat was leaving in ten minutes and, ever the prompt one, Angela was already on it; bags packed and cat in carrier. The situation almost made her nostalgic. Nearly one year ago, she was heading to the island with grand aspirations and zero pocket change. Now she was leaving the island and only up one cat.

It was a learning experience, if nothing else.

"Angela, was it? I always thought you'd make it as a rancher, but I guess life had other things planned for you." Pascal shook his head and continued to polish his pipe with a dirty cloth.

"Well, I guess Waffle Island wasn't everything that you led me to believe it was."

A horn sounded from the ship as it began to push away from the dock. Angela was unsurprised to see that nobody had turned up to see her off.

"Aye, well, maybe some other upstart rancher will be up to the task. I hear the mayor is sending out brochures again." the sailor looked rather unimpressed.

Waffle Island was slowly fading away from view; it looked strangely unimportant and insignificant from this distance.

"Good for the mayor. I wish whatever idiot takes it up this time the best of luck."

* * *

It was amazing the change that could happen in five years. A school was built, couples were wed, children were born and the mother tree was revitalized. The new rancher was ambitious indeed.

In what had become a regular Sunday occurrence, Gill found himself sipping in tea on a familiar antique couch in a familiar manor. Hamilton, as per usual, was staring at him intently.

"Yes, father?" he ventured, upon noticing the mayor's gaze.

"You didn't bring her along this time?" Hamilton looked disappointed.

"She and Luna are visiting the farmer for some fresh produce." Gill set his tea cup down on a coaster.

"How fabulous! Children are so interested in such things at that age!"

Not that Hamilton would really know; his son was far from an average toddler.

"I suppose so." Gill replied; he had an admittedly small breadth of knowledge regarding children, including his own.

The stout man paused for a moment, looking relatively contemplative. "Do you remember that farmer we had before Kevin? What was her name again?"

"Angela." The blonde once again picked up the teacup and stared at its contents absentmindedly.

"Ah yes! What a nice girl, and quite beautiful too as I recall..."

* * *

**Author's Note: **Well, there you have it. I've been trying to hold off author's notes, since they usually come off as mindless griping (or, god forbid, 'R&R PLZ')...but what the hell, I've come this far.

I'll freely admit there's plenty of faults and things I'm not proud of with this piece of fan fiction (this ending being one of them); however, writing this has been a good exercise and I now have a decent grasp on the elements I'll need to improve on in the future.

Thanks Bizz, you've been an awesome beta reader. I know it wasn't easy slogging through all my shitty grammar, but I really appreciate it. Dude, I owe you one! You're _hardcore!_

I was going to avoid thanking anyone else since it usually just comes off as tacky, but sugarapplesweet, I really appreciate both the time you took to review every chapter (with obviously some thought put into the reviews) and that you actually stuck with this beast from the very start until the very end. I don't know if this story lived up to your expectations, but thanks all the same.

Thanks to everyone else that stuck this story on alerts, favourites or really just took the time to read it. Reviewers, thanks for, um, reviewing. I know I'm lazy and rarely do it, but I'm always happy to receive some sort of feedback. I'm such a hypocrite. Anyway, you guys rock! Thanks for reading!


End file.
